Update

Seriously, this summer has passed in almost a blur for me. Blogging has just not been a priority and I am feeling a little bit sad about that because I love having a document of  all the things we are doing. Adam has been gone so much for work which been tough on all of us, I think me especially since I was so lucky to have him at home working for the past couple years. The girls and I have definitely been spoiled having him work from his office here at home and getting to see him and spend so much time with him, but we are all grateful and blessed that he loves his job and the work he is doing.

He is becoming well traveled and he will know of a bunch of good places to take me when we have a chance to sneak off for a little trip someday. So far this summer he has traveled to: Pennsylvania (twice), Louisiana, Florida (twice), California (twice) and Washington State. Other trips he has been on earlier in the year include: North Dakota, Arkansas, and Florida.  Most of the time this summer he has been gone for two weeks straight before he gets to come home. It is nice that we are able to FaceTime with each other and talk on the phone daily since we are hundreds of miles apart a lot of the time.

Since we just moved into our house in April and had lots of ideas for projects that needed to be done this summer, the time that he is at home has been crammed with getting as much of these things done as possible. We are so close to having our fence done in the back yard. This has been such a big project but I think both Adam and I and our neighbors are happy with how it has turned out. We also bought a wood insert fireplace to put down in the basement and yesterday Adam unscrewed the old fireplace door that was installed and we cleaned the masonry fireplace out in order to have in clean and ready for the insert to be installed. We are both excited about how that fireplace will keep the girls nice and warm this winter. We also are getting ready to tile our entryway, dining room, kitchen, laundry room and pantry and are going to rip up the linoleum and carpet and tile that is already there. Crazy!

Plus.... Montanna starts school in just a little over a week! I honestly can't believe she is old enough to go to kindergarten and I am a little bit sad she is getting so big. I just can't think about it for too long or it makes me cry. She is getting to be so independent, such a good helper, a really good eater (she eats her vegetables right up), a good sister, and just a really beautiful albeit strong-willed girl. She is such a blessing to us.

Eden is so so so excited to be a big sister and to have a baby in the house. She talks about her baby brother all the time loves laying next to me and putting her hand on my stomach to feel this baby's kicks and jabs. Montanna does the same. I am so glad they are both so excited and I think they will both be such great helpers. Eden is growing like a weed! I put her on the scale yesterday and she weighs 33 lbs! Montanna is just a couple lbs. heavier at about 37 lbs. Eden has been getting taller and her hair is growing so fast. She is looking and talking so grown up. She is still missing her "r" sounds and her "th" sounds and since Britney tells me I don't have to worry about that until after she is in kindergarten, I love listening to her talk with a British accent. She still hates almost every vegetable unless it's pickled although she still has to eat them, and is not a fan of meat unless it's a fake McDonald's hamburger or a hot dog. Hopefully she will grow to have a more sophisticated palate. She does win some points for being the only one in the house that will eat blue cheese with me :)

As for me, this pregnancy has been going by great and I can't believe that I am less than 8 weeks from my due date. I am feeling rather large, but have been pleasantly surprised that I have been able to keep my weight down this pregnancy which is such a plus for me! I am still about 15 lbs away from where I ended my pregnancy with Eden and I am about 25 lbs. less than I was at the end of my pregnancy with Montanna. I honestly don't think I'll gain another 15 lbs over the next 6-8 weeks so this is very exciting for me since I seem to constantly struggle with my weight. I am borderline for having gestational diabetes and this has helped me really watch my diet the last few weeks and I have cut out almost all refined sugar and white flour and I have been on the treadmill almost everyday walking about 2 miles on an incline. I have found that an incline of 7 is too much and will start giving me contractions, but if I stay at 6 or below I am just great. I feel really good for being this far along and I am realizing how many things I need to get ready before this baby gets here. First of all we need to think of a name. We don't have anything even close to a solid option and I know we are going to need to start scouring family history sites and baby name books before we find a name that we both like and feel like will fit this little man.

I just downloaded a bunch of pictures and will be updating again soon with our summer fun! For right now, here is picture of the beautiful view from our back yard.